This is a brief history of the annual National 4-H Presidential Awards
Winners - the top girl and top boy in the Achievement, Citizenship and
Leadership programs. These six winners comprised the most prestigious
honors bestowed upon awards recipients at the National 4-H Congress in
Chicago for nearly 70 years. As Presidential winners, each of the winners
received an engraved silver tray given in the name of The President of the
United States.

Prior to the annual presentation of the Presidential tray winners, the
top boy and top girl in these three areas were honored in their separate
program categories with leadership starting in 1924, achievement in 1928
and citizenship in 1948. And, in the later years of the program, there were
12 Presidential winners annually and they represented national winners from
all awards program areas.

The Moses Trophy - Top Leadership Winners

The top winners in the 4-H Leadership awards program at National 4-H Congress
traditionally received the prestigious Moses Leadership trophy, presented in
the name of Horace A. Moses.

Mr. Moses was an early friend of 4-H Club Work.
A member of the National Committee on Boys and
Girls Club Work from 1925-1945, he also funded
the Horace A. Moses Building at the Eastern
States Exposition and sponsored the
International 4-H Leader Training School in
Springfield, Massachusetts.

Horace A. Moses

President of the Strathmore Paper Company,
Horace Moses was a paper industry pioneer,
world-renowned industrialist; his interests in
industry and agriculture made him the impetus
of what would become the Eastern States
Exposition. His sweeping studies of history
and commerce, combined with his legendary
charitable work, make Moses one of the most
fascinating and profound men in American history of that period.

Moses' personal interests included raising steers, breeding
hunting dogs, and growing award-winning apples, donating to
charity, and the betterment of youth across the nation and
around the world. In addition to 4-H, Horace Moses was the
founder of Junior Achievement. Moses has been honored with his
image on a U.S. postage stamp and the Horace A. Moses Foundation
continues to exist in Boston, Massachusetts.

The first three to win the Moses 4-H Leadership Trophy contest. Right to left: Ford
Mercer and Frances Smith of Oklahoma and Kenneth Hinshaw of Washington. Ford and
Frances later became Mr. and Mrs. Mercer. In 1935 Ken Hinshaw wrote the book "
4-H: A Story"

Beginning in the late 1930s, in addition to receiving the Moses silver
trophy, the top boy and girl in Leadership also received a $300 scholarship
personally funded by Edward Foss Wilson, of Chicago, the son of Thomas E.
Wilson, and president of Wilson & Company, major meat-packers in America.
In 1942 the scholarship amount for the two top recipients of the award by
Edward Foss Wilson was dropped to $200 each, however $100 scholarships were
also awarded to the first boy and girl alternates.

The annual Awards Handbook for 1941, for the first time, describes the
Moses Trophy as being awarded annually by the International 4-H Training
School, which was sponsored by Horace A. Moses. In 1949 The Annual Awards
Handbook lists the donor of the trophies as the H. A. Moses Foundation,
Springfield, Massachusetts.

According to Alvin Davis, a 1948 Moses Trophy winner, the historic
Moses trophies were held annually by the two top recipients as a form of
"traveling trophy" and then returned to be presented the following year to
the new top Leadership winners.

In 1947, in addition to the scholarships for the top winners, Edward
Foss Wilson also began providing county medals for winners, two gold wrist
watches (one for a boy and one for a girl) as state awards, and eight trips
to National 4-H Congress, for the National 4-H Leadership Awards Program.
1949 was the last year that the Moses Trophies were given. Beginning in
1950 silver trays from the International 4-H Training School and Horace A.
Moses Foundation were given to the top boy and top girl winners while
scholarships were awarded by Edward Foss Wilson. This combination continued
for five years... through 1954. Beginning in 1955 the silver trays and
scholarships were both presented in behalf of Edward Foss Wilson.

In 1961 The Sears-Roebuck Foundation became the donor of the National
4-H Leadership Awards Program, replacing Edward Foss Wilson who had
personally provided funding for the program for 23 years. The Sears
donorship provided county medals, trips to National 4-H Congress for state
winners and 12 scholarships of $400 each for national winners. 1961 was
also the first year that the Awards Handbook listed the silver trays
awarded to the top boy and top girl in Leadership as presented by the
President of the United States, joining the two top Achievement winners
with this prestigious recognition.

The Sears-Roebuck Foundation continued their sponsorship of the
program until 1971. In later years the Leadership Awards Program was
sponsored by Reader's Digest, and beginning in 1986 by the Firestone Trust
Fund and the Bridgestone/Firestone Trust Fund. The Presidential Awards
component of the program (top boy and top girl) was transferred to the
Presidential Awards Program with all of the national winners in the
Leadership Program automatically being considered for the Presidential
Awards competition. National 4-H Awards Programs were discontinued through
National 4-H Council in 1994.

Leadership Awards Recipients

Winners of the Moses 4-H Leadership trophy... and, later part of the
Presidential tray winners sextet representing leadership:

During the first three years there was a single recipient. Starting in
1927 the top boy and the top girl in the leadership awards program were
each honored with the Moses trophy.

Year

Winning Boy

Winning Girl

1924

Ford Mercer, Oklahoma

1925

Frances Smith, Oklahoma

1926

Kenneth Hinshaw, Washington

1927

Alex Cruickshank, Oregon

Carolyn Eyring, Arizona

1928

Edgar Grimes, Oregon

Frances Reed, Indiana

1929

Theodore R. Lorenz, Oklahoma

Lois Bailey, Oregon

1930

Carroll Brannon, South Carolina

Florence Melgihert, Kansas

1931

Roscoe Owens, New York

Marion Dolan, Wisconsin

1932

Vernon LeRoy Baldwin, Minnesota

Maurine Knouse, Kansas

1933

Hugo Graumann, Oklahoma

Doris Esther Clark, Wisconsin

1934

Floyd S. Amsler, Indiana

Nellie Lucile Appling, Georgia

1935

Viley Johnson, Oklahoma

Betty Brown, Kansas

1936

H. Clayton Fox, Oregon

Cora Mae Briggs, Nebraska

1937

Clifford Breeden, Indiana

Helen M. Michael, Oregon

1938

Oliver Larson, Minnesota

Bonnie Phillips, Oklahoma

1939

Willie L. Ulich, Texas

Dorothy Arvidson, Indiana

1940

Wayne L. Good, Kansas

Geraldine deLancey, Oregon

1941

Wayne Thorndyke, Oklahoma

Margery Habluetzel, Missouri

1942

Alfred Dalrymple, New York

Eula Lenora Wood, Georgia

1943

Robert R. Mayer, Kansas

Emily McHattie, Minnesota

1944

Donald F. Sullivan, New York

Mildred E. Reed, Connecticut

1945

Donald McKnight, Maryland

Mary Arlene Nelson, Kansas

1946

Lewis Topliff, Kansas

Estelle Ruth Stewart, Missouri

1947

LeRoy Donnay, Minnesota

Pat Wall, Georgia

1948

Alvin G. Davis, Texas

Alice Ruth Gilliaum, Arkansas

1949

Don Bowman, Tennessee

Rose Antonich, Montana

1950

Donald Sherman Brozovich, Colorado

Phyllis V. Bowe, Minnesota

1951

Gordon Dowell, Oklahoma

Lottye Betts Rye, Mississippi

1952

William A. Davis, Jr., Georgia

Coralie N. Mullins, New Mexico

1953

John A. Murray, Jr., Colorado

Janet Kuska, Nebraska

1954

Ralph E. Lamar III, New York

Grace M. Stannard, New York

1955

Eldon Rebhorn, Illinois

Ann Guindon, South Dakota

1956

Earl Davis, North Carolina

Linda Schermerhorn, Indiana

1957

Charles Pickering, Mississippi

Clyde Templeton, North Carolina

1958

Jim McNern, California

Joan Lee, West Virginia

1959

Charles Youngclaus, California

Carolyn Bradley, New Mexico

1960

Keith E. Axtell, California

Frances McQueen, Missouri

From 1961 on, the top boy and top girl in the Leadership Awards
program were part of the Presidential Awards, until 1985 when national
winners in all programs were eligible for Presidential Awards.

Sir Thomas Lipton's Awards - Top Achievement Winners

As the story is told in Franklin Reck's book, "The 4-H Story," one
fall day in 1928, Sir Thomas Lipton heard about club work and indicated
that he would like to present cups for health winners. Guy Noble, managing
director of the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work, feeling
that a health contest would not be acceptable, consulted with George E.
Farrell, of the federal staff. These two evolved the idea of recognition
for "general achievement." This was the inception of what was to become the
National Achievement 4-H Awards Program. So, like leadership, beginning in
1928 a top 4-H boy and a top 4-H girl were selected as overall high honors
in 4-H Achievement.

Sir Thomas Lipton, a Scotsman who was
knighted by Queen Victoria in 1898, had
become a multimillionaire tea merchant,
emigrating to America and establishing
his business in New Jersey. He died in
1931 at the age of 81, however Lipton
Tea was to be the tea trade's largest
worldwide success throughout the course
of the twentieth century.

After the death of Sir Thomas Lipton in 1931, the award for the top
boy and top girl in the National Achievement Awards Program became
recipients of the President's Trophy. The 1932 Annual Report of the
National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work announces the change in name
from Lipton Trophy to President's Trophy: "The 4-H clubs received special
recognition from the chief executive of the Nation this year. This
recognition comes in the form of two trophies awarded in the name of The
President of the United States, one for the boy winner and one for the girl
winner of the National 4-H Achievement Contest."

Sir Thomas Lipton, c. 1909

In addition to the President's Trophy, the top boy and girl winners in
Achievement each received a scholarship of $300 awarded by the National
Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work.

In the beginning, the trophy was often referred to as the Roosevelt
Trophy, however by the 1940s, the trophy was simply termed the President's
Trophy.

In 1949, Presidential trophies were replaced by silverware being
awarded to the top boy and girl in Achievement, given in the name of The
President of the United States. Also, beginning in 1949, in addition to the
scholarships for the top Achievement winners, the National Committee on
Boys and Girls Club Work made Achievement a full awards program by offering
county medals, two achievement statues per state for state winners and
eight trips to National 4-H Congress.

1951 top Achievement winners - Joy Alexander, Oklahoma and Wayne
Schultz, Wisconsin - pose with silverware awarded in the name of The
President of the United States

In 1952 the Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan, became the
national donor of the 4-H Achievment Awards Program. The program was
expanded to include four gold-filled medals of honor for county winners,
small statues for the two top state winners, sixteen trips to National 4-H
Congress for sectional winners and 12 Henry Ford II college scholarships of
$300 each. The top boy and top girl winner in Achievement continued to be
recognized with awards in the name of The President of the United States.
By 1956 trips to National 4-H Congress were being offered for every state.
The Presidential winners - the top boy and top girl in Achievement - began
receiving silver trays along with their honor in 1962, the year the program
donor became the Ford Motor Company Fund, instead of the silverware.

In later years, while the Achievement Awards Program continued to be
sponsored by the Ford Motor Company Fund, the Presidential Awards component
was transferred to the Presidential Awards Program with all of the national
winners in Achievement automatically being considered for the top
Presidential Awards competition. National 4-H Awards Programs were
discontinued by National 4-H Council in 1994.

Achievement Awards Recipients

The top boy and top girl honored in the 4-H Achievement awards program
each year were honored beginning in 1928 with awards presented by Sir
Thomas Lipton. In later years these two annual top achevement winners
became part of the annual 4-H Presidential Awards winners, given in the
name of The President of the United States.

Year

Winning Boy

Winning Girl

1928

John Jackson, Louisiana

Sybil Herring, Illinois

1929

John C. Patrick, South Carolina

Helen Haldiman, Wisconsin

1930

J. Willard Colebank, Tennessee

Ruby Richardson, Indiana

1931

Charles Brown, Indiana

Mary Teresa Rico, Minnesota

1932

Donald N. McDowell, Wisconsin

Frances Mae Good, Wisconsin

1933

Marcus Teeter, Jr., Minnesota

Lillian Murphy, Indiana

1934

William Kiesel, Jr., Oklahoma

Mary E. Wien, Indiana

1935

William E. Hamilton, Illinois

Romayne Tate, Arkansas

1936

Frederick Reichart, Indiana

Florence E. Erickson, Minnesota

1937

Bob Morford, Oklahoma

Viola Niedfeldt, Wisconsin

1938

Lloyd Hawkins, Oklahoma

Katherine Sire, Montana

1939

Robert Summers, Illinois

Dorothy L. Lippert, Minnesota

1940

Francis A. Boyle, Illinois

Newatha Krebs, Oklahoma

1941

Orlo E. Ruppert, Illinois

Beth Gill, Mississippi

1942

Robert Lee Nash, Oklahoma

Margaret Heddrich, Indiana

1943

Billie Sol Estes, Texas

Geneva G. Duhm, Wisconsin

1944

Donald F. Mowery, Indiana

Mary Jo Morgan, Mississippi

1945

Ora Vernal Callahan, Indiana

Eldora Janzen, Oklahoma

1946

Laverne F. Hall, Wisconsin

Maurine V. Steyer, Nebraska

1947

Donald Stoten, Jr., Indiana

Lavona Thorndyke, Oklahoma

1948

Dick T. Brown, Colorado

Ruth Ann Clinton, Indiana

1949

Gilbert Blankenship, Illinois

Dorothea McCue, Missouri

1950

Porter Lee, Jr., Oklahoma

Carolyn Durham Smith, North Carolina

1951

Wayne F. Schultz, Wisconsin

Joy A. Alexander, Oklahoma

1952

Rollin Shoemaker, Colorado

Carolyn Crumm, Oklahoma

1953

Kenyon Giese, Wisconsin

Ann Wade, Georgia

1954

Elden Holsapple, Indiana

Coleta Lou McAllister, Oklahoma

1955

Franklin McKay, New Mexico

Angela Heine, North Dakota

1956

Daniel Davis, Tennessee

Annie Gutierrez, California

1957

Doran Bollman, Iowa

Karyl Ann Benson, Middleboro, Massachusetts

1958

Roger Hunsley, South Dakota

LInda Lou Gould, Indiana

1959

Larry Watson, Oklahoma

Barbara Totten, California

1960

Robert S. Barr, Pennsylvania

Rebecca Anne Parker, North Carolina

From 1961 on, the two top Achievement Awards winners (one boy and one
girl) are part of the Presidential Awards Program, until 1985 when national
winners in all programs were eligible for Presidential Awards.

National Citizenship Awards Program

Citizenship became a National 4-H Awards Program for the first time in
1948, funded through a trust fund established by business friends of Thomas
E. Wilson and named "In Honor of Mr. Thomas E. Wilson." Thomas E. Wilson,
president of the meat packing firm, Wilson & Co., was a long time president
of the board of the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work, a major
donor and supporter of 4-H for nearly 40 years.

The Citizenship program consisted of two scholarships of $300 each,
presented to the top boy and top girl in the Citizenship Awards Program.
The 1957 winners are the first that seem to show up being photographed with
silver trays as part of their top award, in addition to the scholarships.

In 1961 the two top winners in the Citizenship Awards Program are
referred to as Presidential winners for the first time, with their awarded
silver trays being given in the name of The President of the United States.
This completes the team of six - top boy and top girl in Achievement,
Citizenship and Leadership - being termed the Presidential Awards winners.

In later years the Citizenship Awards Program was sponsored by The
Coca-Cola Foundation, however the Presidential winners component was
transferred to the Presidential Awards Program and all of the national
Citizenship winners were eligible in the Presidential Awards competition.
National 4-H Awards Programs were discontinued by National 4-H Council in
1994.

Citizenship Awards Recipients

Citizenship awards were made available for the first time in 1948
through a trust fund established by business friends of Thomas E. Wilson
and consisting of two scholarship awards for the top boy and top girl in
Citizenship. In later years these two top awards became part of the annual
Presidential awards winners with the prize being a silver tray given in the
name of The President of the United States.

Year

Winning Boy

Winning Girl

1948

Burton O. Bosch, Montana

Beverly Runnels, Texas

1949

Dwight F. Nelson, Iowa

DiAnne Mathre, Illinois

1950

Jack McDowell, Jr., Minnesota

Mary Jenet Elder, Indiana

1951

Esther Jean McNeal, Louisiana

Bill Carmichael, Oklahoma

1952

William Francis Pressly, North Carolina

Edna Adrian Short, Georgia

1953

Bobby L. Newton, North Carolina

Nancy E. Mason, North Carolina

1954

Cephas Williamson, Georgia

Sara Traughber, Tennessee

1955

William C. Thiesenhusen, Wisconsin

Nellie McClure, Tennessee

1956

Billy O'Brien, Tennessee

Patricia Venable, Georgia

1957

Wendell Crites, Michigan

Wilda Story, Georgia

1958

Dwight Walker, New Mexico

Melanie Matthews, Mississippi

1959

Loren Youngclaus, California

Jo Ann Thompson, Iowa

1960

Parker Ray Blevins, Kentucky

Linda Lou Lukens, Indiana

From 1961 on, the top two Citizenship Award winners (one boy and one
girl) are part of the Presidential Awards program, until 1985 when national
winners in all programs were eligible for Presidential awards.

Presidential Award Winners

1961 was the first year that the top boy and top girl in the three
programs - Achievement, Citizenship and Leadership - all received silver
trays in the name of The President of the United States, and were
considered a team of the six top awards honors representing these three
program areas.

The Presidential Award was the highest and most prestigious award
given in the 4-H program and became a separate awards program sponsored by
the Reader's Digest Foundation and later the Reader's Digest Association,
Inc. in 1986. As described in the 1989 Summary of Programs and Services to
4-H, each year 12 4-H members received the award in the name of the
President of the United States at National 4-H Congress. Presidential award
recipients were selected during the Congress. Candidates competing for the
award include: nine national winners in the Achievement Program, nine
national winners in the Leadership Program; nine national winners in the
Citizenship Program; and candidates nominated by their state. Each state
had the opportunity to nominate one national awards program winner from any
program area to be considered for the National 4-H Presidential Award. The
12 Presidential winners each received a $1,000 scholarship from the
Reader's Digest Foundation and a silver tray in the name of The President
of the United States.

Presidential Awards Recipients

The Presidential Award Recipents - the two top winners in Achievement,
Citizenship and Leadership - were first officially recognized as a "team of
six" in 1961 and remained this way until 1986 when the National
Presidential Awards Program became a program unto itself. In 1986, the
number of Presidential Awards recipients expanded to 12 winners each year.
In addition to Leadership, Citizenship and Achevement, winners of the
Presidential Awards could represent other Awards Program national winners
in the competition, as well, and it no longer was equally divided between
three boys and three girls.

Anyone with additional information on the history of the National 4-H Presidential program... or, its predecessor awards, are encourated to contact the National 4-H History Preservation Program at: info@4-HHistoryPreservation.com

50th Reunion at National 4-H Congress

In 1986, Clayton Fox of Oregon, Cora Mae Briggs, Nebraska, Florence
Erickson Ries, Minnesota and Frederick Reichart, Indiana had a reunion at
the National 4-H Congress in Chicago. Fifty years earlier, in 1936, at
National 4-H Congress the foursome had been the top boy and top girl in the
Leadership and Achievement programs - winners of the Moses Trophies and the
President Roosevelt Trophies. Here is their story from the Fall 1986
National 4-H Council Quarterly.

"4-H Hall of Fame" Winners

In the historical archives at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center
in Chevy Chase, Maryland there is a very large and heavy wooden plaque
displaying engraved name plates for all Leadership and Achievement
recipients of the Moses Trophy and the Presidential Trophy from their
beginning in the 1920s up through 1951.

These early top winners in leadership and achievement were designated
National 4-H Hall of Fame winners. The Hall of Fame plaque originally hung
in the Boys and Girls Club Building at Chicago Union Stock Yards, site of
the International Live Stock Exposition.

Hall of Fame plaque for national 4-H champions is shown being presented
by B. H. Heide, manager of the International Live Stock Exposition, for
hanging in the Boys and Girls Club Building. Accepting for the Clubs is
Miss Gertrude L. Warren of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Looking
on are Laura M. Bellin, Thiensville, Wisconsin and Harry Synar, Warner, Oklahoma.

It is difficult to determine how long the Hall of Fame plaque has been
in storage, but undoubtedly for several decades, both with the National 4-H
Service Committee in Chicago and the National 4-H Council at the National
4-H Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Alvin Davis, 1948 Moses Trophy winner, is shown next to the 4-H Hall
of Fame Plaque which bears his name, in October, 2010. The photo was taken
on the day Mr. Davis, from Lubbock, Texas, was inducted into the NAE4-HA's
Hall of Fame.

The insert photo shows Mr. Davis 62 years earlier, taken from
the Thos. E. Wilson Day program at the 1948 National 4-H Congress.